Table Tennis Canada hosted their first Community Coaching course fully virtually. A total of 10 coaches from Ethopia to the United Arab Emirates and from British Columbia to Nova Scotia participated in the 3 hours course.
“This was a great start in reaching our goal of 1,000 trained Community Coaches by 2027” says Master Coach Developer Thorsten Gohl. He continues “We had such a great group of people that engaged, asked questions, and are able to do some Freestyle Ping Pong now. Ha Ha.”
In the course coaches learned the basic Table Tennis rules, the grip, how to structure and guide a Table Tennis session with beginners and a lot of fun games. From roller ball, over bouncer to champions table. How to progress the levels for the different age groups and how to adjust the equipment that we have available to make it fun for everyone.
Carol Rosenthall, a participant in the course, had some nice things to say “The amount of useful and practical tips that Thorsten presented, with enthusiasm, will translate into a wealth of ideas to use with athletes of all ages. Keeping the game simple such as having a proper grip and hitting the ball in front of you, will engage learners and have them returning to the table. The progressions with a variety of balloons/balls in different drills in the Tool Box will be key to keeping the sport entertaining.”
Carol continues “It was nice to meet other coaches with varying backgrounds who all want to promote the sport in a safe, fun, and progressive way. I feel much more confident in leading youth sessions due to the activities presented along with the skills/drills/games laid out easily in the Tool Box. A network has now been created so that ideas and questions can flow from coach to coach. Thanks so much for inspiring me to keep on learning.”
If you don’t know those words or games, then you better sign up for our next Community Coaching course in May (https://ttcanada.ca/upcoming-table-tennis-canada-coaching-courses) or some Professional Development (https://ttcanada.ca/launching-professional-development-series).
We are looking forward in seeing the accomplishments of our first virtual trained Community Coaches in the near future.
If you have any questions about Coach Development, feel free to reach out to our Technical Director Marles Martins via e-mail at marles@ttcanada.ca.
